II. Policies on exports of arms to states affected by the Arab Spring

Chapter:

6. International arms transfers

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2012

Author(s):

Paul Holtom, Mark Bromley, Pieter D. Wezeman, Siemon T. Wezeman, Paul Holtom

The violent reaction to the Arab Spring in 2011—in particular the deaths of anti-government protesters in Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen and the more intense armed conflicts in Libya and Syria—involved the use of major conventional weapons and small arms and light weapons acquired from a number of supplier states.¹ While the United Nations imposed an arms embargo on Libya and the European Union (EU) and the Arab League imposed arms embargoes on Syria, no other multilateral restraints were imposed on arms transfers to states affected by the Arab Spring.²